flowers on the cheap

I used a $2 off coupon to pick up this flower bouquet at the grocery store for $13.


Then I separated all the flowers out and made 4 smaller arrangements to place around our house. They are so bright and cheery! I did add a few clippings from a dark green shrub in our yard to fill in with. But I think 4 vases of flowers for $13 is pretty great! I probably could have gotten 5 or even 6 if I wanted to stick with the smaller vases too.


So now we have some in the front entry, along with a camellia blossom from the yard...


another little bunch in the bathroom...




and the largest one in the kitchen window. The other tiny vase is also in the kitchen window but I might move it somewhere else. I usually move flowers around and pull off any wilting blossoms so that the rest still look nice and last longer.


Having fresh flowers around the house really goes a long way for us- it makes us smile, adds color to our lives, and encourages us to keep clutter off the surfaces because the flowers look so pretty there. Pick some up the next time you get a chance, and spread them through the house! It will be a gift to yourself and your family.

my kitchen window

This is one of my favorite spots in our house. I was thrilled to see this wonderful place to put plants when we first looked at the house, and it has proven to be a tiny sanctuary for me in our often chaotic life. Not only is it a safe place that is unreachable by small hands- therefore making it the perfect spot for beloved or breakable items- but it is also the center of the room I spend the most time in. Which makes it the perfect place to put things that are meaningful and beautiful to me. That way, when I am wringing out a rag to wipe sticky fingers with (again) or when I am scraping dirty dishes or draining pasta, I can look up and get a splash of color to make me smile, or I might notice something sitting there that makes me think of a friend or a place we've been or one of my kids. Sometimes a little boost like that is all you need to get through the rough parts of the day. Being surrounded by beauty- from the natural beauty of fresh blossoms to the quirky beauty of treasured souvenirs and the memories attached to them- makes the difficult times a bit easier and the wonderful times even sweeter.


Click on the picture above to see details about all the items in my window (mouse over to see the notes)

we rearranged

Our whole house. And now what was once our dining room is my parlor, where I receive my guests. Hee hee! We actually are calling it the parlor, and it is the first room people see when they walk through our front door.



So this chair was in the living room, but when we moved the TV and sofa to the basement to create a little den, we did not need this to go along. So I put it in the parlor and decided to paint it.







Next will come a new cover for the cushion and a pillow for the back, as well as some additional treatment to the paint to rough it up and make it look a bit old.


I am finally starting to feel like this is MY house!

drawer fix

We had some very sticky drawers in an old desk that sits in our kitchen. This desk holds our scissors, tape, charging cords for the phones, etc. and a few tools. So we go into it every single day and the sticky drawers were just bothering me. They were also a mess, so while I was cleaning them out and organizing them I took a bar of soap (Don't worry Ansley- I used one of those hotel bars! Your precious soap is too good for this project!) and rubbed it along the bottom edges of the drawer itself as well as the place on the desk where the drawers sit, and then along that middle support that the drawer track rides on.


When I popped the (newly organized) drawers back into place they were able to glide in and out with ease. It is amazing what a difference it made! And then I just tucked the rest of the bar in one of the drawers so I can redo it if they ever get sticky again. I know I read this tip somewhere a long time ago but I can't even remember where- maybe Martha Stewart? Anyway, I love when there are simple, free solutions to little annoyances like this. You don't even realize how much that one little thing bothers you until you fix it and then it seems like such a joy to do.

painting

We painted our bedroom last week at cleaning club. It was really great because I had kept the room nice and straight after we worked in there the previous time, so all I had to do was mask off and move the furniture to the center of the room to prepare.

The colors look very bright on the computer screen, and it IS quite bright, but these photos might look a little more than in real life.


Just look at Rachel's concentration. You can't pay people to care this much about your paint job!


I paint with my mouth open. And we all often show up to cleaning club without showers, especially when we'll be getting dirty. That is a sign that you know your friends love you, when you can come over with bedhead and smelling funky!


Shannon manned the roller most of the day, and supervised a lot from the bed. The baby is getting big!! (I can't wait!!!!)

I did not take any full photos of the room after we were finished- I am shopping for duvet covers and curtains right now and I want to wait until I have them to reveal the finished room. So you'll have to settle for these photos of us working. The old paint was a dark cream color on 2 walls and a taupe color on the other 2. Jason and I chose a orange-y red and a yellow-y orange, but once they were up they really look like dark orange and a golden yellow. We still love it but it is definitely tricky to make choices based on those tiny swatches!


While we are doing cleaning club, the kids pretty much occupy themselves. They do well most of the time, and the older kids watch out for the younger ones. Lyle and Andrew (the youngest two kids) go back and forth- one minute they might be playing really well and the next minute one of them is clocking the other one with a toy over the head.




And then there are the things I only find out about when I see the photos...








Thank you so much you guys! I really love it and your help made it a one-day job instead of a whole weekend the way it would have been if I'd tackled it on my own. I can't wait to get things up in there- it is already becoming such a sanctuary for us and you have helped me make that happen. I heart cleaning club!!

to the rescue!

Cleaning club at my place yesterday.



Messy bedroom- stuff piling up on all the surfaces, furniture in need of rearranging, dusty ceiling fan and cobwebs in the corners...



We got the surfaces all cleared, the blinds and corners vacuumed, ceiling fan and doors/doorknobs cleaned, and rearranged the small bed and got rid of one of the little tables. Later in the afternoon I got the dust ruffle put back on and clean sheets on the bed (these were in the wash during cleaning club).





And a finishing touch of some fresh flowers from the yard, which actually are a sampling of the color palette we want to bring into this room soon. We're tired of the subdued blues and greens and are going to be doing red and orange in there hopefully before the summer is over.





I just know that if I had made the decision to clean up my room on my own, It would have taken me all day (instead of just an hour!) and I probably would not have rearranged or brought in flowers. I just love cleaning club for those reasons- we all marvel every week at how much we get done and how much more fun it is to work together.

Thank you so much Rachel & Shannon for helping me get my room back! I love it! And it is truly a gift to have your help making my home more functional for my family. THANKS!

home improvement

Well hello there, readers! Here I am, back at the blog. If you are still checking in on us then I know you are dedicated followers of our little space here, and I appreciate that very much. We have had so many comments here and via email, phone calls, and in person- letting us know how much everyone has missed us during this not-so-little break. We love you all very much and thank you for your patience and understanding.

So... what have we been up to? Christmas and New Years, lots of reading and time in front of the fireplace, a few warm days and a LOT of cold ones, a little too much TV watching, the inauguration (YAY!), lice (BOO), and a new canine addition to the family. I'm not even going to make promises about pictures from the past 7 weeks (mostly because I have found that not blogging has had the terribly negative side effect of not taking many pictures...) and just focus on the present.

So the most recent photos in the camera are these: documentation of our home improvement projects. We bought paint a few weeks ago- nothing like a splash of color to give your inspiration a jump-start, right? After choosing colors for 3 different rooms, we realized we had a nice little rainbow when they were all together. I adore rainbows. So we knew we were on the right track. No, these will not all be in one room together. But a rainbow, nonetheless.



We started caulking and masking in preparation for painting in our first project room: the dining room. This is the first thing people see when they come into the house, so we decided it would be the place to start. The walls and ceiling were in need of some considerable caulking, to cover up the gaps due to settling of the house. It seems like an insignificant detail, and has been quite a bit of tedious work, but we think it is making a big difference and we know we'll be glad that we did it.



We got a tiny bit side-tracked this weekend with the need to replace the toilet in our main bathroom- but the good news is that Jason and I were able to do the entire job ourselves, and now we have not only a functioning toilet but a really cool low-flow, dual flush model that allows us to save loads of water every day. And it is shiny and sparkly in our pink tiled bathroom to boot. No leaks so far and everything is going down. Success!



Back to the dining room, we got going last night and finally put the first coat of Banana Split paint on the ceiling. The kids all got to do a little helping and we got it done in about an hour and a half, which we felt was pretty good since we have not painted in years and years and were feeling a bit rusty. I have to say that the internet has been an invaluable tool for us during these projects- we watched videos of toilet seals being replaced and ceilings being painted in order to prepare ourselves (Why yes, yes we are geeks, if you must know.) We should be getting the walls primed by mid-week (going over glassy paint, so we're using a tinted primer under our Asparagus green wall paint) and maybe by the weekend we will have the walls done. We will wait a week or two then before touching up the trim and cabinets with white. It is looking great and we can't wait to get it finished and start hanging some fabulous art on those walls!





And after all the excitement of painting, I almost forgot that today is a very special day in the history of our family! We celebrate 15 blissful years of marriage today, as well as the anniversary of finding this house. We are broke, so there won't be any fancy celebrating happening but I think getting the painting done is a great way to mark the occasion. We also plan to take my still-broken ring in for repair in the next few days, so it can go back to it's rightful place on my finger. It has been far too long and I miss wearing it.

So there's our update- I will try to be here much more regularly now, and I promise some pictures of the kids soon. Have a great week!

list

1 toy airplane
1 ViewMaster reel
1 set of plastic vampire teeth
3 play people figurines
half of a plastic easter egg
1 refrigerator magnet
2 band-aids, in wrapper
1 plastic batman figurine
1 miniature rubber sea lion
1 mesh drain cover from bathtub
1 play "shot" from doctor's kit
40 cards (1 deck, but loose) from a game
half of the box from above game


These are the items I found today, mixed in with the dirty clothes at the bottom of the laundry chute. I doubt I have to explain how they got there.

christmas cactus

After seeing buds on my friend Jenny's cactus the other day, I came home and inspected mine. Sure enough- there are some tiny buds starting to pop out! I am excited about this because it will be the first time I get to see this particular plant bloom.



It (like so many things we will using and enjoying for years to come) was here when we bought the house, and has been doing quite nicely in the spot in my kitchen window where I found it. I have had bad luck with these in the past, so I just left it there and it has been happy. I don't know what color the flowers will be, so I am looking forward to the surprise!

plans

This is our sun room. It used to be a car port from what we can tell, so it comes off the kitchen on the side of our house, with one door facing the street and another going out to our deck along the side and back of the house.



I've always wanted to be able work from home, and I've always wanted to have more time to sew and make things to sell. So we decided to try to make this happen.



I've settled on alterations and clothing repair, and custom sewing (like sewing from a pattern with customer-specified fabric, etc.) And then if time allows, I might make some small items to put up in an Etsy shop or sell at craft fairs, etc.



This room is so perfect for my plan. It is where I was planning to have my sewing machines and work space set up, anyway. But it is perfect for an alterations shop because it has a separate, front entrance- so when people come in they will not have to step over toys and fight off our attack dog- and it also has a closet large enough to be a fitting room. So once I am set up, I'll be able to schedule appointments in the evening when Jason is home, and my customers can come in and have a fitting for an alteration or sit down and chat about a custom project.



Aside from appointments, I am going to be setting aside at least 10-12 hours per week in order to work uninterrupted. This equates to 2 evenings after dinner and one weekend afternoon, where Jason will have the kids and I will be able to stay confined to my room and focus. To work for hours at a time without having to stop and change diapers, prepare food, clean up messes, and all the other things that keep me from being able to be productive.



So, now that my Halloween sewing is past, I am settling in to really focus on this dream. There is a lot of work to be done to turn our junky sun room into My Studio. But I've already started taking a few alterations and have 2 different custom sewing projects underway, so I feel confident that I'll be able to have steady work. The coming week or two I plan to work on making the space more cozy and clearing out some of the stuff that belongs elsewhere, as well as completing the projects I have in process. I think by the first of the year I'll be able to be in full swing and really advertising my services by word of mouth around town. I'm sure things will change and evolve quite a bit as I work through the process of getting set up and seeing what people want. I'll post pictures as the space develops! Thank you so much to everyone who has already been so incredibly supportive to me in this endeavor. It has been a long time coming and I feel it all falling into place now so nicely.